Battle Flag of the Pedestrians (washingtonpost.com)
Battle Flag of the Pedestrians (washingtonpost.com): "Burke strides briskly across the avenue, puts the flag in its holder and explains her technique: 'I look like I mean business.' She looks like one stern crossing guard, without the vest. Later this year, in its continual effort to mediate the war between walker and driver, Washington will finish outfitting every single signaled intersection -- more than 1,000 of them -- with the super-sophisticated, light-emitting-diode pedestrian countdown displays, the very latest in gee-whiz traffic engineering. At the same time, the city will decide whether to take the distinctly low-tech orange flags program being piloted at two Chevy Chase crosswalks -- at Northampton, and two blocks away at Connecticut and Morrison -- and offer it to other neighborhoods. The orange-flag idea was born in 1996 in Kirkland, Wash., a Seattle suburb, after a boy who was a crossing guard at his elementary school was hit by a car. From Kirkland, the program has spread to municipalities in at least 13 states. Flags wave in Portland, Maine, St. Paul, Minn., Madison, Wis., Cambridge, Mass., and Salt Lake City. The flags arrived in Chevy Chase after intensive lobbying by Samantha Nolan, a whirling dervish of a community activist. 'We were having people shopping at the Safeway,' she says, 'and they would walk across Connecticut and cars would knock the groceries right out of their hands.' Eggs were not the only things broken. Some residents urged a traffic light be put in at Morrison Street, at the Safeway, but Nolan argued successfully that the flags were cheaper, successful and would not change the residential character of Morrison Street. "
Link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A48350-2005Apr12.html?referrer=email
- posted by Jim @ 12:26 AM 0 comments

 
The Sun News | 01/10/2004 | Truck driver faces charges in wreck
The Sun News | 01/10/2004 | Truck driver faces charges in wreck: "Cpl. David Fries, an accident reconstructionist, said Grcic's truck was found to be in seventh gear after the crash. That and tire marks on the road showed that he was likely traveling 39-45 mph - which couldn't have occurred if Grcic had come to a full stop at the intersection just before the crash, Fries said.
Grcic's attorney James Bonhue questioned the mathematical formulas that Fries used to come to his conclusion and noted that Fries didn't examine the truck's gear box until a day after the crash.
Kerr's mother, who attended the hearing with other family members, said no one is angry with Grcic, but that he needs to be held accountable for his actions."
- posted by Jim @ 5:36 AM 0 comments

 
Metro Considers Abandoning Natural Gas Buses (washingtonpost.com)
Metro Considers Abandoning Natural Gas Buses (washingtonpost.com): "Metro board members voted yesterday to purchase more than 200 diesel and hybrid buses, scrapping a policy of buying natural gas buses to improve the region's air quality.
After an hour of sharp debate, members of the board's Planning and Development Committee voted to buy 117 diesel buses and 100 hybrids over the next three years. The measure awaits final approval April 21 at the monthly meeting of the full board, which includes the same voting members as the committee.

Metro owns 1,450 buses, all of which run on diesel except for the 164 natural gas models already on the street. "
- posted by Jim @ 8:15 PM 0 comments

 
Seattle Post-Intelligencer: AP - U.S. Headlines
Seattle Post-Intelligencer: AP - U.S. Headlines: "WINTER SPRINGS, Fla. -- Ten friends took a limousine to assure themselves a safe ride to their high school prom - but they ended up busting their own limo driver.
Patrick Curley, a senior at Winter Springs High School, used his cell phone to call home Saturday and reported the driver had driven through stop signs, cut off other vehicles and veered onto the wrong side of the road.
Robert Curley told his son to tell the driver to pull over, and when she stopped, the students grabbed the keys out of the ignition.
'This is unbelievable,' Robert Curley told Seminole County Sheriff's Office dispatchers when he reported the incident. 'We rented the limo so you're obviously going to be safe.'
The students got to the prom an hour and a half late.
Christina Tomacelli, 49, was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol and refusing to submit to a blood-alcohol test. Deputies said they found a half-empty bottle of citrus-flavored vodka next to the driver's seat. They said she also told them she had been drinking wine."
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=664036
- posted by Jim @ 6:10 PM 0 comments

 
Despite Law, Drivers Keep Dialing With No Headsets (washingtonpost.com)
Despite Law, Drivers Keep Dialing With No Headsets (washingtonpost.com): "In Maryland, where a Prince George's County school bus driver who was using a cell phone skidded off a road with about 30 students on board in February, legislators are seriously considering their own cell phone crackdown. On March 17, the House of Delegates approved legislation that would bar novice teenage drivers from using cell phones, though the measure has yet to become law. "
- posted by Jim @ 10:45 PM 0 comments